Nelson Beach races are on Sunday 3 January 2011 - The adv class.

[Woodman]

there will be lots of photos somewhere, there were cameras everywhere. Bart would not have survived riding in front of that many cameras. All I got were some pits and crowd shots so not worth posting.

[dino3310]

results.........
who finished where,
did a certain tenere coloured KLR finish last.... please say it did, please

[JATZ]

The NADS who entered did good
I only watched one race, then got bored and went riding , but they were going well, having a race within a race

[dino3310]

i thought the ole BIG might have done alright

[warewolf]

Well that was a top day out

Was great to have a few more NADS at a competition event. Everyone was still smiling at the end of the day, and I for one would've liked to have kept racing. The 640 'played strong, done fine' as they say, the preparation paid off as it was head-shaking like a bastard most of the time but never seemed like suddenly getting out of control. We had 4 laps practice then 4x 5 lap races and finally the 7-8 lapper 'all in' feature race for the moderns. Most of us improved with time, but at times later in the day I did lose concentration/coordination - one time did result in a tip-over in the corner. (the other time I was fully aware and simply cocked up.)

I had the misfortune of the tether kill switch becoming dislodged in a particularly aggressive bumpy corner. It was still connected so initially I thought fuel and switched to reserve but eventually I worked it out. Then next race I dropped it in the start/finish corner, but the 'bars fell in a rut so I couldn't get my hands under the bike to pick it up. It stalled when I finally picked it up, and after kicking it a few times a marshal hands me the tether... "you might need this." yeah, ta. Arse. I fell off again at the same place on the next lap, but managed to keep the bike running... but I checked the tether just in case. Third time round I nailed it in a beautiful big long slide

The bike was fast enough to run with the slower open class MXers, but the nut holding the handlebars let the side down - mostly through the corners. There was one chap who must've been pulling 20km/h more: I was slowly passing something-or-other near top speed and he just blew our doors off. Oddly I was able to out-brake quite a few of the MXers which was a surprise. The rear was gripping well enough that I struggled to lock the back end (which is normally effortless) and blackened the rear disc. The tyre actually turned on the rim a little bit, from braking, but cranking up the rim lock mostly stopped it.

Loads of fun!! Must do it again some time

And thanks to all the support crew for your efforts, it was a pleasure.

Some technical notes:

The start/'away' side was closest to the waves. It was much harder packed than the return. I was seeing 150-155km/h at the braking point and it was accelerating the whole length of the straight (800m) although the bike got to high 130's fairly promptly. The return was much softer and slightly in to the wind: early in the day 5th gear near redline was only pulling 138km/h, same as 4th going up the harder surface. Later in the day, 127 was about max, and changing 4th to 5th too soon dropped the revs too far out of the power, like down to say 6,500rpm and it would languish at 120-121-122. Oh, and by the end of the 3rd race the filter skin was dirty enough to drop the top-end speed from 155 to 147, and those kays made a real difference to chasing down the open-class bikes (as, presumably, did the improvements elsewhere in the rev range). Removing the skin instantly returned the missing power.

That was running my standard 'adventure' gearing 16/44, 2T up on the rear. Possibly I could have run taller as it spent a lot of time in the 1500rpm above peak power.

Suspension-wise I'd dropped rear preload from 21mm to 10.5, and dropped the forks the final 2mm into the clamps ie the top of the caps was flush with the top of the top triple. Front rebound went -1 click faster and compression +2 clicks firmer. I tried -2 clicks softer but that didn't improve stability just ruined braking. The +2 clicks really held the front end up under brakes, so I went from overshooting the corners due to braking judder to undershooting due to braking so much harder. Result! Basically I would sit forward through to about 90-100km/h then sit riiiiight back as it started weaving - then have to climb forward on the bike again to change gear not good at high speed when she's bucking like a bronco and you are using every bit of stability you can generate.

I hacked off the front 10-15cm of the front guard, but that didn't make any noticeable improvement to stability. Worth a try.

The Shinko 540's did the job at 11 psi, it was set and forget. Before the corners got cut up they really, really hooked up well: I was able to bang the throttle open to the stop while cranked over hard at about 80km/h in third, and they'd just hook up and drive. Schweet.

Interestingly this year there was no debris in the sand. So you were only sand- or water-blasted which is nowhere near as painful as rocks, sticks and shell fragments. Full face road helmet did the business, I must say highly recommended over MX helmet & goggles. My face was comfortable all day, and any vision problems would have been just as bad (or worse) with goggles.

Signing off, my limbs are starting to ache.

[NordieBoy]

Good fun

I arrived at the beach to be pointed to the "ADV Pits" sign and taped off area the organisers had made for us

Unpacked everything including the bike lift off the back and set up on my nice new tarp.

The KB crew was...
Racing: Nordie, Padmei, Woodman, Warewolf...
Hangers-on, Pit Bitches, Brolly Dollies, groupies: JavaHead, Topo, MrsTopo, Jatz, MrsJatz, Underground, MrsUnderground, HoT, CooneyR, Cynna...

Now if they'd brought their bikes too...

Sign-in and helmet check went fine although when your brother says "just sign here" you start to worry. That's when you find you've just entered Pre '86 on your '79 XR250 as well...

MX3 or Adventure Class, as it became known was the race after Pre '86...
Which led to a bit of scrambling and 400m head starts for the others in one case.

Got a practice in on the DR and then my first race was on the XR. Which I hadn't practised on so I didn't know where to sit as you can see from the photos

5 laps for the classic bikes and 7 laps for the modern's.
10 laps for the all in final.
The XR was more stable than the DR but was a bit slower too.
Changing into 5th and the revs would slowly drop off for the remaining 1/3 of the straight.

The XR really handles well and goes pretty well for a bike that only gets raced and the engine hasn't been touched for 50-60 hours over the last 4-5 years or so.

The DR had a very nice mid-range even with the stock pipe but with the 16/46 gearing (170kph theoretical max) it needed to go down a tooth in front as it was pulling 6,000rpm at 136.1kph and 1 lower would have been 6,500rpm at the same speed but nearer to peak power.
It could have maybe juuust got 140kph but I got over 130 which was my aim as I guestimated 130 odd kph max leading up to the races

The start straight as WW said was a lot smoother as it was on the seaward side and was a lot wider and the water kept the ruts smaller. You didn't need to sit back on the seat much at all. For top speed you'd go wide and for lower lap times you'd go narrow.

The return straight was a different story. Narrower and no smoother line or side. I was going about 30kph slower down this side, seated riiiight back as far as my arse and ventura bars would allow and both ends were swapping around all over the place but you just kept it pinned

Watching the K100 completely nailed through the corners and swapping the back a metre from side to side on the good straight was amazing
Having a fast bike pass you on the rough/soft side and cross over in front was an experience.

I didn't do the last Pre '86 race as I was getting a bit knackered and passed on the All In at the end too.
Shane was a bit annoyed I'd packed up as he was going to nick the DR when my back was turned and do the last race on it. I'm happy the DR didn't get treated to that abuse but it would have been cool to watch

Not many got the chance to pack up their bikes and ride home. Who needs a race bike

My camera got borrowed a couple of times and I took a couple of shots too so there's 318 photos to go through...

I also have a gps trace of the track

[Padmei]

Yes indeed Rabbit Island turned on a fantastic day for us.

Watching the other classes practise it kinda looked easy- just stay in a nice line & go round the corners.

Nordie, Woodman, Warewolf & myself lined up at the start of our practise laps with the MX3 open class. I was pretty nervous before the flag came down & to make matters worse the KLR started to stall right on the dropping of the flag. I started & head down saw with my peripheral vision the rest of the field disappear ahead of me.

To be continued - movie time

You peoples must have the idea what went down so all I'll say is I was crapping my daks going along the practice laps. I'm not used to having the bike moving all over the place at speed so kept it not quite tapped out.

After the practice laps I felt like I'd done the tower of terror in Dreamland - it was exciting but not quite sure if I wanted to do it again My heart was still running at 150bpm about 5 mins after stopping.

The guys were talking about what they & the bikes were doing while racing however my mind went blank when they asked me- all I had in my head a blurrred vision of the handlebars wobbling madly.

The first race tho was a completely different story. For some reason I stopped thinking of the consequences & held it pinned. I was concentrating on getting around those corners as fast as I could (which wasn't fast). After a few laps I was feeling like I was getting better & realy begain enjoying it until the last lap when I dropped it on the corner & took a while to get started.

However the following corner was my last as the clutch stopped working. I pushed it back to the pits with help from Jatz.

Something in the box had broken so Iwas out of the racing. What a bummer. Iwas absolutely loving it until the clutch thing & although I was dead last by a long shot (& having the indignity of the leader lapping me in a wheelstand) but am absolutely hooked. It was the most exciting experience I've had for a while & reccommend all to have a go.

Next step- track day at Ruapuna

[cooneyr]

Where's the photo's, or were they to fast for your shutter speed??

Got 280 to go though so will probably be tonight. Should be a couple of good ones of each of the NADS despite my limited photographic capacity.

results.........
who finished where,
did a certain tenere coloured KLR finish last.... please say it did, please

Umm maybe and maybe not. I've got evidence that modified DR's can out accelerate stock KLR's - easily

Cheers R

[NordieBoy]

I was concentrating on getting around those corners as fast as I could (which wasn't fast).

having the indignity of the leader lapping me in a wheelstand.

Faster than me though

In one race I wasn't lapped

[NordieBoy]

Umm maybe and maybe not. I've got evidence that modified DR's can out accelerate stock KLR's - easily

Stock(ish) KLR's.

[bart]

Bart would not have survived riding in front of that many cameras.

Haha, woulda been a massive rolling ball of carnage, travelling down the beach at warp speed.

Good on you guys. Sounds awesome. I'll have to sneak down that way next year and have a look. It must be bloody difficult once the beach gets rutted up.

[bart]

Out of interest, how would a 'trials' type tyre go. A grippy tyre would help with acceleration, but might create too much drag at high speed. A less grippy tyre should stay on top (think aquaplane) and allow more speed.

I've only had limited experience of riding sand, so shoot me down if I'm wrong.

[NordieBoy]

Out of interest, how would a 'trials' type tyre go. A grippy tyre would help with acceleration, but might create too much drag at high speed. A less grippy tyre should stay on top (think aquaplane) and allow more speed.

I've only had limited experience of riding sand, so shoot me down if I'm wrong.

I don't think anyone who's done a rutted sand straight even at 100kph would be going "hmmm, I need less tread".

On hard pack sand then a trials tyre on the back may be fine though.

[NordieBoy]

Our intrepid leader with his present from Bankok...


Woodman mobile...


Warewolf's steed...


Padmei's Tenere...


NordieBoy's beast...


The crew...

[warewolf]

Out of interest, how would a 'trials' type tyre go. A grippy tyre would help with acceleration, but might create too much drag at high speed. A less grippy tyre should stay on top (think aquaplane) and allow more speed.

Less grip probably means more wheelspin and taller gearing to maintain drive.

I reckon you would have to try both tyres on the same day to pick the difference. But having said that, the 640 seemed to have much better grip with the Shinko 540s than the 200EXC did with Michelin S12s; both were pretty much topping out so they probably couldn't have used any more grip to gain top speed.